Above and Beyond
by Slytherin Head
Summary: Arriving to an empty home was not how Hermione was looking forward to spending the night.


_Disclaimer- This Harry Potter world does not belong to me. I am not the author you are looking for. _

**A/N- This story was written in response to the "Opposite Day Challenge" by Montley over at HPFC. My pairing was Ron/Hermione. Thank you to nargles lurk in the mistletoe for editing this story. **

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Hermione was furious. She knew he'd forget; knew that her hints had fallen on deaf ears. All of the little notes she had "accidentally" left around the house had ended up being useless because as always, he'd forgotten. She was used to his forgetfulness by now. It would take him awhile to figure out why she was so mad. But when he did finally remember, at least he would somehow make it up to her one way or another. Now though, she found that she didn't want to wait for him to make it up to her. She just hoped that when she got home he would know that she was mad and that he was in bigger trouble than Hagrid had been in their first year when he had tried to keep Nobert hidden in his cabin.

If everyone else in the office could pick up on her foul mood then Ronald should be perfectly capable of noticing it at least two hours after she's slammed every possible item in their house and burned his dinner. And it was his bad luck, considering she was making Molly's prize Shepherd Pie. That ought to teach him to forget.

There was just one hour left before she could go home and unleash all of her anger.

"Hermione? Are you okay?"

She snapped out of her daydreaming to lock gaze with one of her best friends. His green eyes were wide behind his glasses as he timidly stood at the threshold of her office.

"Oh! Uhmm... Harry, how long have you been standing there?"

He looked a tad afraid of her; almost as if he was expecting his answer to cause her to throw things at him or hex him. Hermione didn't blame him**:** she had been known at one time or another to be a tad violent when angry. Though, she could never recall being violent against him. Ronald on the other hand...

"Just long enough to see you break that ruler in your hand."

Confused**,** she looked down and realizes that she had indeed broken her ruler. Her face flushed with embarrassment, she quickly repaired it with aflick of her wand and placed it on top of her desk. Standing up and straightening her robes, she made her way towards Harry and gave him a brief hug. It was the only way she could show him that she was of no danger to him. She knew**,** though**,** that he would tread carefully now until he left her office.

"So what brings you to my side of the Ministry?" she asked, taking a seat on the small couch and signaling him to join her.

"Ginny wanted me to tell you that... uh... damn..."

_Damn?_

Hermione watched as Harry began to dig in his pockets. It seemed that his wife knew him well enough to foresee him forgetting the message he was supposed to deliver.

"Ha! Found it. Oh right, so she wants me to tell you that -bloody hell**,** this woman writes like a Healer- Luna... can't make it to..."

Any other day Hermione would have had the patience of a saint. Sadly for Harry, it was not today. With a roll of her eyes, she snatche**d** the paper from his hands to read it.

_Bugger, she does write like a Healer._

**Luna can't make it to the movies this weekend. The twins are down with Dragon pox and Rolf is still in Australia chasing God-knows-what creature this time. We can invite Angelina if you'd like, though I'm not sure if she's free this weekend.**

With a sigh, Hermione gave back the note to Harry and sat back against the couch in defeat. The fates had spoken**,** and their ruling wasthat she was doomed to have a crappy weekend. She felt emotional and wished that she was at her parents**'** house so she could vent and her mum could take care of her. She doubted Harry would appreciate her breaking down in front of him. It's not like he hadn't dealt with her tears before, but he was a guy and could do little to cheer her up.

She felt him shifting on the couch and before she knew it, he had his arm wrapped around her, pulling her into a hug.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked.

Hermione did in fact want to talk about it, though not with him. Harry was, after all, Ron's best mate. She didn't want to place him in a difficult situation where he would have to pick between her and his best friend. Yes, she was mad, but not mad enough to bring others into her marriage problems. So with a small smile she looked up at him and said, "You should get going. Ginny willworry if you're home late."

The young Auror seemed to debate whether it was a good idea to leave Hermione on her own or not. But Hermione knew she was right, Ginny would be worried if Harry was late. It wasn't that the young Weasley was worried about a cheating husband. The fear from the war had never really left her. She would always worry for Harry no matter if he was out flying for an hour or simply running a small errand. Not to mention she probably wanted some alone time. Little James was a handful**,** and even with the help of Kreacher, Ginny still appreciated it when Harry took over for at least an hour to allow her to wind down. It was the reason Hermione had suggested that they go to the movies every so often, so they could all get away from the magic and just enjoy themselves.

"If you need anything, Hermione, you know you're always welcome to drop by. Ginny would love to see you before the weekend." With that, he gave her one last hug and a kiss on the forehead before heading out of the office.

Once he was gone, Hermione looked at the clutter on her desk and decided that it wasn't even worth trying to sort that mess out. She didn't have the mind to do work at the moment and she didn't want to risk making a mistake. So with one last sigh, she began to pack up for the day. No one would question her lack of work**:** she was**,** after all**,** almost three weeks ahead of their schedule. Her boss would probably be relieved at her lack of work**, **and so would everyone else.

With one last scan around her office to make sure that she wasn't forgetting anything, Hermione turned offthe lights and closed the door carefully behind her. No one really paid her any attention as she walked across their department, which suited her just fine as she really did not want to talk to anyone. All she wanted to do was to get home and get things over with. She knew it was going to be a long night. Perhaps she would drop by Honeydukes and buy some of her favorite raspberry filled chocolate.

An hour later, with two boxes of chocolates and four books shrunk in her pocket, Hermione Apparated outside her home. The lights were out, which meant Ron was probably out again. She supposed it was for the better. Now she could just make dinner for one and take a soothing bath while eating her chocolate, drinking wine and reading one of her new books. Opening the door, she stepped into her house, kicked off her shoes**,** and removed her robe, making sure that she took her purchases out. She pondered about what she could make for dinner as she made her way to the kitchen**, **but before she could make it past the sitting room a flash of light filled the room**, **blinding her momentarily.

When she was finally able to see again, Ron's Patronus was standing in front of her.. A million thoughts flew through her head as to why that was and all she could think was that something had happened to him. Yet as she looked at the small Jack Russell, it simply nodded to her, as if telling her to follow him. Hoping her judgmentwas correct, she followed the Patronus through the kitchen and towards the back garden. Hermione paused at the door, took out her wand**,** and prepared herself for anything. Even if the war was over, there were still plenty of people who hated her and wished her harm.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the door and stepped out. What she saw before her eyes made her nearly weep with joy.

Ron hadn't forgotten.

He stood tall and proud under her favorite apple tree, apicnic blanket laid out with pillows and a large wicker basket. Small lights surrounded the area**,** and as Hermione looked closer, she saw that they were fireflies. She was about to open her mouth and scold Ron for using them to light up the area, no matter how romantic it was, but it seemed like he could read her thoughts and spoke first.

"They're not real!" he said, quickly walking up to her and taking her hands in his. "I had Luna teach me a spell to light up the garden, instead of having to use candles or Lumos."

Hermione looked at them closer and realized that it was true. While they looked like real fireflies from afar, up close she could see right through them. Just thinking about how hard Ron must have worked to accomplish such a thing stole her breath away. It was the most romantic thing she had ever experienced.

Noticing her stunned reaction, Ron led her towards the little picnic area and helped her sit down, making sure that she had enough pillows around her. She smiled at him, a big and bright smile. She wanted to tell him how beautiful everything was and how grateful she was to him, but the words would just not come out. Ron smiled and leaned in to give her a slow and tender kiss.

"I thought you'd forgotten," she said, almost in a whisper.

Ron looked slightly uncomfortable but said, "I don't mean to forget, Hermione. Honest. I- I just didn't know what to do. Everything I thought of seemed stupid and I knew you wouldn't like it. I wasn't even sure about this, but I talked to dad and he said that there's not a woman in the world who doesn't like to be surprised like this. I'd figure that since he and mum have been together for eons that he must know what he's talking about. And I'm just rambling now so I'm going to shut up."

Hermione looked at him wide eyed, before shaking her head and pulling him in for another kiss.

"Silly man, you should have said something to me. These past two years I thought you had just forgotten. That it wasn't such an important day to you as it was to me. How about this**-** next time you want to plan something for the two of us, just trust your instincts and do it. I promise that as long as I'm with you, I'll love it."

He looked at her a tad sheepishly before remembering that there was more to his surprise. Pulling away from her, he said "Right, so I made dinner for us."

"You made dinner?" Hermione exclaimed. It seemed like the night was going to be filled with surprises. She looked down at the plates in front of them and tried to imagine Ron cooking all of it. The most she had ever seen him make in the kitchen was some toast, and even then it was slightly burned.

Ron's face flushed red with embarrassment as he pulled out their dinner. "Well, mum and Ginny helped a little. But I wanted to do it myself."

Looking down at the golden apricot chicken, creamy alfredo pasta**,** and delicious**-**looking winter green salad, Hermione wondered just how long he had spent trying to make it all. A rush of affection cursed through her for the wizard in front of her. He was as nervous now as the night of their first date. She had complimented him on his robes and he had murmured something about wanting to look good just for her. Hermione had known then that he had worked hard in order to save enough money to afford some nice robes. She wasn't vain, and wouldn't have cared what he wore, but years of knowing him taught her that he was very self**-**conscious about his clothes and he had wanted to impress her.

Tonight he could have just bought some take-out and they could have spent the rest of the night just talking about nothing and she would have been happy. But he loved her so much that he went above and beyond to make the night special. At that moment, she knew that she was lucky to have found someone who loved her so much he was willing to do anything to make her happy.

"It all looks lovely, Ron. Thank you," she said.

He smiled and said, "Let's just hope it taste just as good."

Hermione laughed and took a bite of her chicken, wondering just what else he had in store for her that night. It was, after all, not every day that one celebrated their wedding anniversary.


End file.
